Published 5:30 am, Tuesday, May 1, 2007

With the grant funds, Main Street's Youth Theater will tour Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice to middle and high schools in spring 2008.

"This is so exciting for us and most importantly, this renewed grant will allow us to continue to connect with a whole new group of students through the kind of immediate and compelling Shakespeare we have been providing for young audiences for decades," said Rebecca Greene Udden, founding artistic director.

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Main Street is one of only 35 theaters nationwide and the only theater in Texas to receive a grant this year. Each theater company will receive $25,000 for a total National Endowment for the Arts investment of $875,000.

"So many school budgets have had to eliminate funding for field trips due to safety and the rising cost of gas, so this way we can go to them and bring Shakespeare with us," said Vivienne M. St. John, Youth Theater producing director.

"The NEA funding has also allowed us to bring the arts to communities that do not have their own local theater companies. For those students, this is their first and possibly only exposure to a play. Our Shakespeare productions traditionally retain the beautiful Shakespearean language but are placed in a contemporary setting so that the play can be accessible at the students' level."